Loyalty
by Jedoliath
Summary: Larten Crepsley finds himself in a desperate attempt to discover a conspiracy.
1. Chapter 1

Larten brushed his thick ginger hair out of his eyes, running his fingers through the silky feel and grunting from the guilt of not finding the time to cut it, and let it grow this long, so long that it would obscure his vision in battle. This still was not the time for a hair-cut - he was involved in something far more important than the concerns of an uncomfortable feeling. Being one of the leading Generals, Larten Crepsley was only entrusted with the missions that had to succeed, whatever the cost. This was one of those missions, but it had its own perils, perils not only involving the entire Vampire Clan, but Larten's entire bloodline.

This mission involved the Vampaneze, the Vampire's eternal enemy, and normally the Vampires let the Vampaneze do as they wished with the humans, not wanting to interfere, in the fear that a war would spark and the humans' presence would be drawn to them. This case was different, though, this Vampaneze was up to something, he had a purpose, a method to his madness. From town to town, all in a linear style, and with all the same circumstances of death. The victims were drained of blood, but not from the neck - as was customary with most Vampaneze - all their blood was drained from the chest, directly from the heart.

Larten had suspected that these killings were for some higher purpose, rather than just a renegade Vampaneze General going around killing the various people it came across. Larten suspected that it was a mere ploy, and that it was being made to look like just that, a renegade General. Except, the Vampaneze were doing nothing to stop him, which was unusual, because both clans feared the humans discovering their presence, and wiping them off the face of the Earth. And then there was the feeling, the feeling of worry, of fear. And so, based on a couple of basic theories and a gut-instinct, he brought it forward to the Vampire Princes, fortunately they did let him pursue this mission, but, unfortunately they did not give him any aid in the mission until he had discovered some more concrete reasoning for them to deploy their much needed Vampire forces to assist him.

And so, the Vampire General was sitting here, atop a large building that stretched towards the sky near the centre of the city. He had devised from the linear style of the Vampaneze's journey that he would arrive here, to kill whoever it was he had chosen, or hadn't - depending on whatever this crazed individual was up to.

Soon, Larten would capture this man, and find out what was plaguing his mind, and confirm if he was correct in his instinct. It seemed that the Vampire's wish would soon come true, as he spotted his first clue; a man walking with his hat held low and a large coat drawn over him, but no shoes. Most Vampire and Vampaneze did not wear shoes, in case they needed to flit quickly away. If this was an ordinary human being, he would be wearing shoes, to acompany his other winter clothing.

Crepsley dropped to the ground, landing on all fours, and even though he was a Vampire, and his body was made for big jumps, he wasn't expecting the terrible sensation that the fall brough with it. He quickly shookit off, afraid he'd draw attention to himself from his suspect. The man he was following still had not noticed his presence, and was walking calmly, but with blatant purpose. Larten quickly drew the knife that was tied to his belt, hidden beneath his leather jacket.

He quickly darted forward, wrapping his hand around the Vampaneze's jacket and thrusting him into the street wall, feeling the brick crack beneath the pressure. Larten held the knife up to the man's throat, after quickly flicking the hat off his head and staring at his dark, purple face.

"What are you up to?" Larten demanded, the Vampaneze didn't bother answering, he grabbed the knife the vampire was holding and plunged it into his throat, mouthing the word; "Loyalty" to the aging Vampire.

Loyalty, loyalty was what possessed this Vampaneze to kill himself, in the hope that whatever he was up to would not be discovered, but this General couldn't do anything about it, and he doubted it would be awhile before he picked up another lead. He realized this as the light slowly faded from the maniac's eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Larten gazed up from the dead body of the Vampaneze General. The crazed individual had given him one clue; in his utter urgency to end his life and avoid relinquishing his secret, he had killed himself, which meant that this secret was massive enough to sacrifice an obviously esteemed warrior's life. This small and seemingly insignificant piece of information was exactly what the Vampire needed as evidence. It still might not be enough to sway the iron-clad minds of the Princes, but it was still something, and who knows, they might even spare one or two Vampire Generals to aide him, or at least let some volunteer to come along with him.

Larten didn't honestly care for even catering the thought of taking the long trip up to Vampire Mountain – without flitting – was hardly a prospect that he enjoyed, even juggling around his mind. And something even more uninviting was the fact that he might not even be given assistance in his mission, and might even be ordered off it all together, if he didn't have any significant evidence. This was the only thing that left the niggling feeling of doubt and worry in the back of his mind, the feeling that made him want to hang around this city more and find out something new. But, time was of the essence, so he had to choose. Only both options were chancing fate, and gambling was something Crepsley rarely partook in, and never wanted to.

Fate wasn't even something Larten liked to believe in, something he chose not to believe in, and raise his hopes for something that had no proof behind and had a very high chance of dashing his dreams and leaving him in an emotional wreck. But, every now and then, something happened that made Larten believe in fate, or at least, want to believe, but still find that something was holding him back.

_One of these times was when he was a little boy. When he was a little boy, still young, in his first couple of years of school something amazing happened to him, that made him wonder if someone was looking out for him somewhere, if someone was making sure he stayed alive, for some greater purpose. Being a child he thought nothing of it, but it was that, miraculous that it would be hard not to._

_Twice times in one day, Larten had been almost killed, two times. The first time, he was taking his regular shortcut to school , observing his fine handiwork on a tree he and a couple of his friends had decided to vandalize – they'd gotten a small hatchet and had hacked halfway through it. Cut short in his reminiscing, he heard a low growl, coming from somewhere behind him. He turned, to find he staring into the eyes of a wolf, blood dried around its mouth – seemingly starving. Before Crepsley could even react, the Wolf had lunged, opening its mouth in a wide yawn, ready to rip him in half. But, with a devastating creak, the very tree that the boy had vandalized had toppled downwards, down onto the wolf below, crushing it completely and silencing it in mid-growl, replacing the ferocious sound with a sickening yelp._

_And then, later in the day, when Larten was walking home, he had his next near death experience; once again, he and his friends had been doing something stupid, they had been piling stones in one of the large holes in the side of the roads, where the water was supposed to go in the case of a storm. It turned out that these stones saved his life, because as he was crossing the road – without looking – a horse and carriage roared towards him, obviously in a hurry. Luckily, he had tripped on the massive pile of rocks and had fallen forward, just short of the path of the horses and carriage. If he'd continued walking, he would have been killed, or paralyzed for life at the very least._

It was these experiences, which made Larten believe that there was something else aiding him through life, like a Guardian Angel. Yet, he still tried not to think about it, for fear of becoming the emotional wreck he had seen his very own friend experience, and never emerge from…


	3. Chapter 3

The tall man, stood up, looking down at the warrior who had just killed himself with disgust, and excitement. He was drawing closer to unraveling whatever conspiracy that was drawing around him like a thick, dark blanket of smog. Larten, was rather happy, he knew he had little evidence, but it was still something, something to give him determination, and drive him onward. A silent bird can still be heard.

It was then that Crepsley heard the soft footsteps of someone with no purpose, someone who was just walking. The Vampire, quickly, reacting off pure instinct, grabbed his dead enemy and darted around the corner and into the dark alleyway just off the main street. He lobbed the carcass into the green dumpster and dove behind it, being careful to hide his orange hair from view with his black cloak.

_Oh my, what a stroke of luck. It seems that chance is on my side, tonight._

Walking past, was a man of about twenty-five years old, he was fit, muscular and looked surprisingly upbeat at this hour of the night. None of those facts interested Crepsley; the only thing that interested him was the small, fresh cross on the young man's face. It was a sign that some Vampaneze had marked the victim for killing, and it was hardly a coincidence that the Vampaneze he had just killed, and the human marked for killing by a Vampaneze were in the same area.

This man was Larten's ticket to belief. But the only way he would be able to get any evidence from this man, was not to confront him, but to follow him, and find any reason that an esteemed General, and obviously not crazy one tried to kill him. This might have been difficult for any normal Vampire to find out, but Larten was no ordinary Vampire – he was possibly the foremost in the running for Vampire Prince.

The General waited until his quarry had strolled past, before leaping onto the stone wall beside him, digging his fingers in and quickly scaling the wall, like a spider.

When he had finally reached the top, he leaped onto the small ledge at the top of the building and quickly scanned the ground to see if he could see the would-be victim. There he was, the man who probably had no idea of his importance, obviously not many people did, except the Vampaneze, who had some reason for killing all of these people, and Larten was determined to find out why.

_Somewhere, in my brain I know why all of these humans are so important, but for some reason I just can't reach to the back of my conscious and drag them out. I better just carry on following him, and see what happens._

Larten leaped from the roof he was on to the next, clearing the gap easily and smoothly, so as to not draw attention to himself. The further the Vampire followed this man, the shabbier the Neighborhood 

became, until finally they came to a place where it could get no more derelict. The man briskly, but calmly walked down a flight of steps that led into the ground, which Larten soon realized to be a Subway Station.

_I wonder what he's doing in an abandoned Subway station..._

Larten dropped down from the roof and jogged over to the subway entrance, noting how dark it was inside.

_No time like the present._


End file.
